Meta: A Rather Splendid Little Investment

Now, the stock market, as you know, is a terribly peculiar place. It wobbles and weaves like a plate of jelly, and everyone’s scrambling for a piece. The S&P 500 is currently perched rather high, looking a bit wobbly, which makes folks nervous about snapping up ‘growth stocks’. But I say, poppycock! There’s one I’ve been eyeing, a rather promising little creature called Meta Platforms (META +0.28%). A modest thousand dollars plonked down now could, I suspect, grow into something… considerably more substantial. Let’s have a peek, shall we?

What’s Been Happening with Meta?

Meta, you see, owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger – a whole family of digital playgrounds. They’ve got 3.58 billion daily active users, which is a simply enormous number. Imagine trying to count that many noses! That’s about 7% more than last year, a steady trickle of new faces peering into their screens.

All those eyeballs make Meta a very attractive place for advertisers, you see. They’re desperate to shove their wares into the faces of all those users. Meta is rather clever at collecting information about these users – harmless things, mostly, like what sort of biscuits they prefer or whether they like cats in hats – and using it to show them advertisements they simply can’t resist. This has led to a 12% jump in ad impressions and a 9% increase in the price they charge for them. The result? A rather handsome 22% rise in revenue.

However, things haven’t been entirely smooth sailing. Meta’s been spending a fortune on these ‘AI’ contraptions – complicated machines that supposedly make everything cleverer – and a rather disastrous venture called ‘Reality Labs’. It’s a place where they’re trying to build these virtual worlds, and frankly, it’s been swallowing money like a greedy hippopotamus. This, combined with a gigantic tax bill (a truly monstrous sum of $15.9 billion!), meant their profits dipped by a measly 2%.

Why Meta is Still Worth a Nibble

Those short-term grumbles about spending haven’t pleased everyone, and the stock price has wobbled a bit. But I suspect this is a splendid opportunity. Those AI investments, though costly now, should eventually pay off, making their data-mining and advertising even more cunning. And who knows? Perhaps ‘Reality Labs’ will eventually produce something genuinely useful – though I wouldn’t bet my best hat on it.

Analysts predict Meta’s revenue and profits will grow at a whopping 20% per year between now and 2028. That’s a rather impressive growth spurt for a stock that currently trades at just 21 times its earnings. If, by 2028, the stock trades at a slightly more generous 25 times earnings, it could soar by over 60% – potentially reaching a magnificent $1,000.

Now, Meta has had a few bothersome obstacles. That Apple (AAPL 0.98%) with its privacy changes on iPhones caused a bit of a kerfuffle. And then there’s TikTok, a rather boisterous newcomer trying to steal Meta’s lunch. But Meta is a resourceful beast. They’ve found ways to collect more information directly from their users and have cleverly copied TikTok’s ‘Reels’ feature.

Therefore, I believe Meta will overcome these challenges and continue to dominate the social networking and advertising world. This recent dip in price is a golden opportunity for long-term investors who can ignore the short-term fuss. It’s a rather splendid little investment, wouldn’t you say?

2026-02-19 21:33

What’s Been Happening with Meta?

Why Meta is Still Worth a Nibble

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